Home California Governor Brown Vetoes Bill Allowing Cities to Extend Last Call to 4 a.m.

Governor Brown Vetoes Bill Allowing Cities to Extend Last Call to 4 a.m.

by ECT

A bill that was introduced by Senator Scott Wiener (San Francisco) that would allow local governments to extend alcohol services for bars and restaurants until 4:00 am was vetoed by Governor brown on Friday.

According to the Governors veto message, he stated:

I am returning Senate Bill 905 without my signature.

This bill would authorize nine California cities to extend the hours business can serve alcohol from 2:00 am to 4:00 am.

Without question, these two extra hours will result in more drinking. The business and cities in support of this bill see that as a good source of revenue. The California Highway Patrol, however, strongly believes that this increased drinking will lead to more drunk driving.

California’s law regulating late night drinking have been on the books since 1913. I believe we have enough mischief from midnight to 2 without adding two more hours of mayhem.

Sincerely,

Edmund G Brown Jr.

According to the Bill:

This bill, beginning January 1, 2021, and before January 2, 2026, would require the Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control to conduct a pilot program that would authorize the department to issue an additional hours license to an on-sale licensee located in a qualified city which would authorize, with or without conditions, the selling, giving, or purchasing of alcoholic beverages at the licensed premises between the hours of 2 a.m. and 4 a.m., upon completion of specified requirements by the qualified city in which the licensee is located. The bill would impose specified fees related to the license to be deposited in the Alcohol Beverage Control Fund. The bill would require the applicant to notify specified persons of the application for an additional hours license and would provide a procedure for protest and hearing regarding the application. The bill would require the Department of the California Highway Patrol and each qualified city that has elected to participate in the program to submit reports to the Legislature and specified committees regarding the regional impact of the additional hours licenses, as specified. The bill would provide that any person under 21 years of age who enters and remains in the licensed public premises during the additional serving hours without lawful business therein is guilty of a misdemeanor, as provided. The pilot program would apply to Cathedral City, Coachella, Long Beach, Los Angeles, Oakland, Palm Springs, Sacramento, San Francisco, and West Hollywood.

DateResultLocationAyesNoesNVRMotion
08/30/18(PASS)Senate Floor2884Unfinished Business SB905 Wiener et al. Concurrence
Ayes: Allen, Anderson, Atkins, Beall, Cannella, De León, Delgado, Dodd, Galgiani, Glazer, Hernandez, Hertzberg, Hill, Hueso, Lara, Leyva, McGuire, Mitchell, Monning, Moorlach, Morrell, Pan, Portantino, Roth, Skinner, Stone, Wieckowski, Wiener
Noes: Bates, Chang, Fuller, Gaines, Nguyen, Nielsen, Vidak, Wilk
No Votes Recorded: Berryhill, Bradford, Jackson, Stern
08/29/18(PASS)Assembly Floor51227SB 905 Wiener Senate Third Reading By SANTIAGO
Ayes: Aguiar-Curry, Berman, Bigelow, Bloom, Bonta, Brough, Burke, Caballero, Calderon, Carrillo, Chau, Chávez, Chen, Chiu, Chu, Cunningham, Daly, Eggman, Fong, Friedman, Cristina Garcia, Eduardo Garcia, Gipson, Gloria, Gray, Grayson, Harper, Holden, Jones-Sawyer, Kalra, Kamlager-Dove, Kiley, Low, Mathis, Mayes, Medina, Mullin, Obernolte, Quirk, Reyes, Rivas, Rubio, Santiago, Steinorth, Mark Stone, Thurmond, Ting, Voepel, Weber, Wood, Rendon
Noes: Acosta, Arambula, Baker, Cervantes, Choi, Cooley, Dahle, Frazier, Gallagher, Gonzalez Fletcher, Irwin, Lackey, Levine, Maienschein, McCarty, Melendez, Muratsuchi, Nazarian, O’Donnell, Quirk-Silva, Salas, Waldron
No Votes Recorded: Travis Allen, Cooper, Flora, Gabriel, Limón, Patterson, Rodriguez

 


 

Original Release of the Bill

California Legislature Passes Senator Wiener’s Bipartisan Bill to Allow Cities to Extend Nightlife Hours to 4 AM

Pilot version of the LOCAL Act – which creates pure local control on whether to extend hours – is limited to nine California cities: San Francisco, Los Angeles, Oakland, Sacramento, West Hollywood, Long Beach, Coachella, Cathedral City and Palm Springs
August 30, 2018

 

Sacramento – Today the Legislature passed Senator Scott Wiener’s (D-San Francisco) Senate Bill 905 to allow – but not require – cities to extend sales of alcohol at bars, nightclubs, and restaurants (but not liquor stores) to as late as 4 a.m.  SB 905 passed the Senate with a 28-8 vote and will now go the Governor’s for his approval. The Governor has until September 30th to sign the bill.

The new 5-year pilot program version of the LOCAL Act, which stands for Let Our Communities Adjust Late-Night, preserves complete local control in terms of decision-making and applies only to the nine cities whose Mayors have expressed interest in pursuing later hours: San Francisco, Oakland, Los Angeles, Sacramento, West Hollywood, Long Beach, Coachella, Cathedral City, and Palm Springs. The LOCAL Act was first introduced in 2017 as Senate Bill 384, but did not move forward and was amended into a new bill last September. SB 905 enjoys bipartisan and geographically diverse support. In addition to Senator Wiener’s lead authorship, the bill is co-authored by Senators Ricardo Lara (D-Long Beach) and Ben Allen (D-Santa Monica) and Assemblymembers Miguel Santiago (D-Los Angeles), Wendy Carrillo (D-Los Angeles) Jay Obernolte (R-Hesperia), Speaker Anthony Rendon (D- Paramount), and Reggie-Jones Sawyer (D-Los Angeles).

“Nightlife is crucial to California’s economy and culture,” said Senator Wiener.  “I am happy that as a Legislature we have voted to embrace and support our nightlife industry, which brings billions of revenue to our state every year. California’s one-size-fits-all closing time doesn’t make sense. When it comes to nightlife, you can’t compare downtown Los Angeles or San Francisco to a small town. Local communities should be able to size up their own nightlife needs and decide their own closing time. This bill allows for local control over nightlife – granting flexibility to nine cities to allow bars to stay open later in certain neighborhoods or for special events if that’s what the community decides is best. I’m proud of the work we have done over the last two years with a diverse and bi-partisan coalition to get this bill to the Governor’s desk.”

SB 905 does not automatically extend alcohol sale hours in these nine cities – it simply creates the option for the cities to choose to extend hours. As with the previous bill, cities will have significant flexibility and can, for example, limit extended hours only to certain neighborhoods, only to certain nights of the week, or only to a few nights a year. Local governments will still have to create and approve a plan to allow for later service hours with full community input. The bill also has a five-year sunset, which means the effects of allowing later service hours can be evaluated and then renewed or discontinued after five years. SB 905 would go into effect on January 1, 2021.

“My district — Los Angeles — is the entertainment capital of the world. Our vibrant and varied nightlife is unmatched and a key component of what lures people to visit California,” said Assemblymember Miguel Santiago.  “I’m proud of this multi-year effort with Senator Wiener and I know, without a doubt, that it will pave the way for greater success and development in the City’s future – especially with major events like the Olympics on the horizon.”

The bill has the support of Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti, Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf, Sacramento Mayor Darrell Steinberg, San Francisco Mayor London Breed, Long Beach Mayor Robert Garcia, West Hollywood Mayor John Heilman, Palm Springs Mayor Robert Moon, and the City Councils of Coachella and Cathedral City.  SB 905 is also supported by the California Restaurant Association, the California Travel Association, the California Chamber of Commerce, the California Music and Culture Association, the California Hotel and Lodging Association, the California Small Business Association, UNITE-HERE AFL-CIO, the California Teamsters Public Affairs Council, and numerous business and travel organizations located throughout the state.

“Every community has its own needs, and cities should be able to make informed decisions about what nightlife hours make sense for residents, visitors, and neighborhoods,” said Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti. “This bill would give us an opportunity to look more closely at what is best for public safety and our economy, and to make those choices locally.”

“I want to applaud Senator Wiener for his ongoing commitment to supporting our nightlife industry, which in San Francisco employs over 60,000 people and contributes more than $6 billion to our local economy,” said San Francisco Mayor London Breed. “SB 905 provides us with the flexibility to determine how best to implement the bill here in San Francisco, and I look forward to beginning that process.”

“Sacramento’s entertainment districts are flourishing, and the new Golden 1 Center has added energy to downtown,” said Sacramento Mayor Darrell Steinberg. “This legislation gives us the flexibility to tailor our nightlife scene to attract tourists and conventions while protecting the character of our quieter residential neighborhoods.”

“SB 905 would allow cities with nighttime entertainment districts to extend their hours of alcohol service to 4 a.m. with appropriate regulations to address potential neighborhood impacts,” said City of West Hollywood Mayor John J. Duran.  “West Hollywood has always been an exciting place for Southern California nightlife and entertainment.  We should work with our residents and chamber of commerce to keep West Hollywood as a major tourist destination.”

Senator Wiener held a November press conference in San Francisco to announce his intent to introduce this bill in its modified form. At that press conference he was joined by nightlife advocates, bar owners, labor representatives, and business organizations. Watch the video of the press conference here: http://sd11.senate.ca.gov/video/20171128-press-conference-announcing-new-local-act-extend-nightlife

Full text of SB 905:

http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201720180SB905

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2 comments

VINCE AUGUSTA Sep 29, 2018 - 2:00 pm

Vetoing this … NO brainer !

Incognito Sep 29, 2018 - 6:46 pm

Has Senator Wiener lost his freakin’ MIND? That’s all we need! More drunks on the streets and freeways. I think all drinking should stop at midnight! Thank GOD Wiener is a Loser!

Comments are closed.